Coal workers fume over Romney ad

If some of the coal miners standing with Mitt Romney in his new campaign ad don’t look happy, it’s probably because they’re not.

The campaign pulled the footage for its new “War on Coal” spot from a recent Ohio rally that some coal miners complained they were forced to take a day off without pay to attend.

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The ad, which will run in Virginia and Ohio, opens with a man who says President Barack “Obama’s ruining the coal industry.” Another miner follows, “They’re wanting to close these mines down, and I have little ones at home.”

The footage of Romney, flanked by coal miners, was taken at a Beallsville, Ohio, rally in August, where about a dozen employees have told WWVA-AM they were pulled out of the mine to join the Republican candidate.

Murray Energy Chief Financial Officer Rob Moore told the radio station in an extended interview that the company shut down the mine because senior managers wanted to attend, and it could not remain open during a rally.

“We had managers that communicated [to employees] that the attendance was mandatory,” Moore said. “But no one was forced to attend the event.” He said some workers did not show up and they faced no consequences.

Murray Energy Chief Executive Officer Robert Murray has thrown fundraisers for and personally donated to the Romney campaign.

And Romney is clearly a fan of his. “I tell ya, you got a great boss, and he runs a great operation here,” Romney said at the start of the August speech, followed by applause from the employees standing behind the candidate.

The Romney campaign did not respond to several requests for information on where the ad was filmed.

The new ads hit the airwaves just as House Republicans prepare to push through a series of bills as part of their “Stop the War on Coal Act,” a move designed to the highlight the Obama administration’s rules that have hurt the industry.

The bills, which are expected to reach the House floor at the end of the week, are not expected to be taken up by the Senate.